By Greg McKay 

While the romantic relationship between Gwendolyn and Luke is part of the film’s narrative, the central love story is with football. What becomes clear as the movie progresses is the deep feelings both characters have for the game, albeit expressed in different ways. For Gwendolyn, the game is competition, an activity to work hard at and enjoy the victories, big and small. Luke comes across as someone who enjoys just playing with the ball, expressing himself with each touch.

As the movie unfolds the ways in which Gwendolyn and Luke experience the game are just a few of the narratives about how love for the beautiful game manifests itself around the world. As a travel piece, Pelada is filled with interesting stops, from a prison outside La Paz to a former land-fill near Nairobi. The most engaging scenes, however, are in Brazil, Iran and Israel.

Brazil

The film begins with a game in Brazil, one of the few in which neither Luke or Gwendolyn participate. It’s one of the innumerable such pick-up matches played around the world that has been going on with the same group of players for decades. With slightly stooped shoulders, growing guts and slowing steps, the passion for the game is ever present, even if the athleticism is not. Old men put their bodies in harms way for goals, argue with referees (and each other) and show a singular joy at playing that seems like it could only to be matched by young children.

Iran

In Iran, Gwendolyn navigates a conservative culture that views women’s involvement in football with suspicion. After participating in a coed game in a park the film crew is called in front of local authorities, questioned and threatened with having their entire footage from the past year destroyed. Put in touch through friends of friends Gwendolyn meets a group of young women who surreptitiously gather in parks around Tehran to play pick-up. While the players couldn’t be further from the old men in Brazil, the joy that comes across in the game is no less visceral.

Israel

While at its heart, Pelada is an idealistic film about two young Americans exploring what football means to themselves and to others around the world, a trip to Israel dispels the myth that the game heals all wounds. In Jerusalem, pick-up soccer between Jews and Palestinians devolves into arguments and accusations. While it’s not as neat a picture of the beautiful game to tell, in a modern game where women are underpaid, players of color face racist abuse all over Europe and sectarian violence is still too common, it’s important to keep in mind the challenges that the game hasn’t been able to solve.

The movie ends with a sort of rumination from Gwendolyn exploring how the game seems to stretch and change but stay the same across the world and how, no matter where you are, it’s the game that lets you in, taking you places you never thought you’d go. For anyone who’s experienced the many sides of football, from eager young kid cursing thunderstorms that cancel practice, to competitive, professional environments and on to the casual pick-up scenes of early adulthood, all the wonder, joy, friendships and beauty that the sport can provide are on display in Pelada.

Kick Off

�?a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2zy3O258JE" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Football: For Better or for Worse�?was the first feature film to open this year’s festivities. Swedish director, Inger Molin, was on hand to introduce her documentary film. She told the audience, “This film is all about the passion for football.�?/p>

The inspiration for the film, Molin explained, came three years ago over lunch with an old friend, Klaes Tjebbes. Tejebbes, at that time, had recently left the world of advertising to become the managing director of one the top women’s professional football teams in the world, FC Rosengard.

Trading in advertising pitches for football pitches, we learn, proved difficult. The frustration of things like UEFA only allocating .2% of it’s money to women’s football and the passion to make the sport more equitable, became the spark behind the film.

Klaes is just one of the many humble heroes of this film. He proves an unwavering champion of fairness in football. The audience can feel Klaes’s growing frustration. In the film, Klaes reveals he once became so frustrated, so exasperated in a board meeting that as he stormed out he literally ran into a glass door. Not quite the proverbial glass ceiling, but close enough.

Women’s Soccer Gets The Silver Screen Focus

The film’s backdrop may be FC Rosengard’s financial challenges and the overarching theme  may be the unequal treatment of women’s football, but within all this Molin weaves in the individual struggles of the players. There is retired soccer star, Therese Sjogran’s transition from a player running on the pitch to a staffer running the team.

There are players facing injuries, players fighting for a first team spot, players striving to find time for family and friends, Molin does a beautiful job showing the challenges of the beautful game. It’s not about the money. It’s about making women’s professional soccer viable and possible.

As she addressed the front row of future footballers in the audience, the film’s director said the film is about giving young girls something to aspire to—to show them that the dream of being a professional footballer is a real possibility.

As Sjogran says in the film, “Dreaming is free.�?Unfortunately, the price of running a professional football club is not and the price of failing to give young girls this goal to aim for is even more dear. Dreaming big and being free to be and who you are and do what you love were running themes of the night. Kicking and Screening showed two intriguing short films: “Equal Playing Field�?and “I Love Hooligans,�?which both explored these themes in very different, but very powerful ways.

Christie Pearce

Most dreams occur at night when the stars come out and the stars came out opening night. Former U.S. Women’s National Team captain and two time World Cup winner Christie Pearce spoke on a panel about the the issues facing women’s professional soccer.

The thoughtful panel of experts may not have come up with the answer to the question of how to solve the lack of equality in football, but Barney’s Creative Ambassador and “soccer obsessive�?Simon Doonan may have answered another important question. What’s equally as exciting as partnering football and film? How about football and fashion? Take a celebratory dab and grab your trophy, Mr. Doonan, because in my book this is a winner.

It is his forthcoming book, “Soccer Style: The Magic and Madness�?that brought Doonan, to the Kicking and Screening Festival. Doonan, who has over 35 years of experience in the fashion industry, came out to talk about his new book, which comes out June 12th�?just in time to get you in the mood and to get your outfit ready for the World Cup two days later.

Before the book talk, “Messi & Me�?directed by Renny Maslow and “Boniek et Platini�?directed by Jeremie Laurent played to a sold out crowd Wednesday night at the Scandinavia house, where the Kicking and Screening Soccer Film Festival is being held. If you have missed any of the festivities don’t fret. Kicking and Screening keeps the cameras rolling the rest of the week with more films and football fun.

10th ANNUAL KICKING+SCREENING SOCCER FILM FESTIVAL

Upcoming Films:

NOSSA CHAPE
Thursday, May 24 | 7:00PM ET

AMERICAN FUTBOL and 1994 (short)
Friday, May 25 | 7:00PM ET

Fuchs is the founder of the Fox Soccer Academy that features the SAM method (Study, Accuracy, and Motivation), a professional structure for youth training for boys and girls ages 6-18. He and his team of coaches bring knowledge and experience gained from years of playing and coaching at the highest levels in Europe. Their backgrounds and relationships create opportunities for young talented players through soccer.

The clinic will start with a free session at Randall’s Island Field 80 on May 21st where Fuchs will be present. Following that there will be after school clinics and summer camps at Randalls Island and upstate in Poughkeepsie throughout the summer.

WHERE:

Manhattan – Randall’s Island �?Field 80

May 21: FREE SESSION 4pm-6pm (Christian Fuchs will be present)

June 18-22: After School Clinic 4pm-6pm- $80 daily fee (Christian Fuchs will be present)

July 16-20: Summer Camp 9am-4pm (1:30pm-4:30pm on July 20) – $140 daily fee, $365 weekly fee

August 13-17: Summer Camp 9am-4pm (11am-4pm on July 16/17) – $140 daily fee, $365 weekly fee

Upstate New York �?Hyde Park Soccer, 343 Creek Road, Poughkeepsie, NY

May 16-18: After School Program – $60 daily fee (Christian Fuchs will be present)

June 25-29: Summer Camp 9am-2pm – $85 daily fee, $365 weekly fee (Christian Fuchs will be present)

July 23-27: Summer Camp 9am-2pm – $55 daily fee, $245 weekly fee

August 20-25: Summer Camp 9am-2pm – $55 daily fee, $245 weekly fee

For more information and to register, please visit: www.foxsoccer.academy/

George Best Documentary Highlights Craic Fest

By L.C. Canivan

Legendary greats like filmmaker Jim Sheridan, came out for a spirited discussion of his inspirational documentary “Shelter Me: Apollo House�?just as indie film stars like Love/Hate’s John Connors showed up to give us the real deal behind his powerful new film “Cardboard Gangsters.”�?Craic Fest provided a rare opportunity for audience members to mingle and chat with such accomplished, and wonderfully approachable stars.

For football fans, Craic Fest really kicked off with the documentary –  “George Best-All By Himself.�?– a winning, expertly crafted film which documents the triumphant trajectory and tragic tumble of football legend, George Best. With awe inspiring archival footage and thoughtful interviews, the film provides a far more endearing picture of Best the man than his autobiography, “Blessed.�?/p>

”George Best was simply one of the most talented players of all time.�?Franz Beckenbauer

The film introduces us to Best and his start as a shy slight young boy scouted in Belfast and scooped up to Manchester to soar to soccer stardom.  It was a career at Manchester United that almost didn’t happen—for shortly into his trial at Manchester United, a homesick Best returns to his family in Belfast.

“It seemed like it was never going to end…it was just getting better and better.�?/i>

That’s where George Best’s story begins, but perhaps that’s where it ends, too.  The film portrays a man, who is at the top of his game, an international star, but who nevertheless may have never grown emotionally beyond that lost, shy, homesick teenage boy.

“Possibly everything had gone too smoothly, I’d achieved everything before I was 22.�?/i>

Best joined a shattered Manchester United shortly after the Munich Air disaster of 1958.  That crash haunted the club, but as Best himself says, no one really wanted to talk about it. The young soccer phenom breathed new life into the club and brought talent like no one had ever seen before.

The film shows dramatic footage of Best’s amazing feats on the pitch. We get to watch the drama of Best and United winning the European Cup.  Still to this day, one can only watch in wonder.  He was a sports star who rose to popularity on par with the Beatles.  At the age of 22, the world was at Best’s golden feet.

“You get the feeling that nothing can go wrong…even if you make a little mistake, you know they’re going to forgive you.�?/i>

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By his mid-twenties, we see things are going wrong more and more and the people around Best are no longer so forgiving.  In an era, before the well-managed David Beckhams of the world, his life of excess and abundance of opportunities must have been surreal for the boy from Belfast.  Away from his family, he was all by himself, left alone to succeed or as was becoming more frequent, to fail.

“I started looking for things to replace the excitement I got from football.�?/i>

Although the film is called “George Best-All By Himself,�?much of the documentary is focussed on George Best’s relationships. For a man who famously quipped, “I used to go missing a lot… Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World,�?I am not just referring to his romantic relationships.

Former Manchester United and Northern Ireland teammate, Harry Gregg is interviewed, as well as friend and Manchester City opponent, Mike Summerbee.  From them, we not only hear firsthand accounts of Best’s pitch prowess, but we get a glimpse of the boy Best before he scaled to the top and before he sunk so low from the drink.

Much has been made of Best’s prowess off the pitch with the ladies, so it’s refreshing that this film gives a voice to some of the important women in George Best’s life. His first wife, Angie Best, very frankly and candidly discusses the great love she had for George, a love that was tested time and time again until enough was enough.

She recalls driving in her car with their baby in the pouring rain spying what she thinks is a homeless “tramp”�?walking aimlessly down the middle of the road, only to realize that “tramp�?is her husband. With that, the relationship came to a screeching halt.  That wouldn’t be the only relationship, Best derailed, however.

“George was gifted with more individual ability than I had ever seen in a player.�?Sir Matt Busby

Even Sir Matt Busby, the fatherly force who nurtured Best when he first reached Old Trafford, could no longer tolerate Best’s misdeeds.  The film devotes a good amount of time poignantly showing the importance of this father-son dynamic and how Sir Matt’s departure from managing Manchester United may have marked the beginning of Best’s decline.  Best is once again, separated from a significant parental figure.

The distance between Belfast and Manchester, is not a great one, but the distance it put between Best and his mother when he left Northern Ireland to play for Manchester United weighed heavily on him. At age 15, he most certainly still needed his mother and when his mother succumbed to her own bout of alcoholism, he feared it was she who had needed him.

In the end, the documentary lets Best’s friends and family as well as the audience draw their own conclusion as to whether Best’s alcoholism was a disease or a decision.  Whichever side they or we fall on, we all come out as supporters on George’s side.

“They’ll forget all the rubbish when I’ve gone and they’ll remember the football. If only one person thinks I’m the best player in the world, that’s good enough for me.�?/i>

George Best & The Craic In New York City]]>